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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Review: Genesis (Return to Eden) by John Hartness

Description

The end of the world was just the beginning.

Now they have to stay alive.

17-year-old Christin Kinsey started the day with nothing more pressing than an English exam. But when an EMP attack knocked out all technology across the globe, she found herself in the mountains of Georgia trying to stay alive in a world suddenly thrown back in time a hundred years or more.

And when she starts shooting lightning bolts out of her hands, things get really weird. Christin, her younger brother Matt, and Matt’s cute friend Dave have to figure out what this new world is about, why they suddenly have super powers, and what happened to their mom in this apocalyptic fantasy novel geared for audiences 16 and up.

Mad Max meets X-Men: First Class in the first book of the Return to Eden trilogy by the best-selling author of The Black Knight Chronicles.

Book Details

Genesis had me from the description! I mean hello “ Mad Max meets X-Men: First Class” yes please. I was ecstatic that once I started reading Genesis I could not put it down I had to know what was going to happen next. I was done with it in a mater of hours…yep I had that much fun with it!

I think this is my first dystopian-like book I’ve read were the characters have a type of super power. I really liked the way Hartness introduced the powers and how he had them manifest in people. I thought it was a great take on the new world the characters were living in.

Speaking of characters, the characters in Genesis are made of awesome! Matt is a typical teenage boy who just so happens to have contingency plans for the end of the world for quite some time. Matt is so likeable and definitely someone you want on your side because once he is he will fight for you till the end. He also has one of my favorite lines in the book:

"…you know in disaster movies how there’s always the one guy who sees what’s coming before anyone else and tried to tell everybody about it, but nobody listens and then they’re all screwed? … Well, in this movie, I’m that guy…"

Matt tells his motives behind preparing for different apocalyptic circumstances, but I would have liked more. He just seemed so driven and for me the reasons did not compare. But, we may find out more in future books. Christin is Matt’s older sister and my favorite character. I felt so much of the book through her. Christin is sweet, vulnerable, strong, and she can zap someone clear across a room if they get out of line. I want to say more about other characters but I’ll start spoiling things.

I thoroughly enjoyed Genesis. It is fast paced and entertaining, sweet, and heart breaking. Genesis is a book of survival, hope, love, and understanding.

Oooh, sounds promising! I'm always interested when characters are the strong part of a story; they're usually the element that can make or break a book for me. Love post-apocalypse stories so will check this out for sure.